“We’re engaged, did you guys all know about this?”
Jose and his crew were coming to replace the kitchen floor last Monday, so we decided to exchange our Christmas stockings on Sunday night. I love these three little penguins nesting in my stocking.
There were a couple of gifts that I couldn’t resist for Diana, but which didn’t fit in her extra large stocking. She had mentioned enjoying spirograph a few months ago, and I was trying to describe the fancy set I had. She’s pretty excited to try out this classic set when we get back to McKinney. I’m not sure if that will be before or after she tackles the “Where the Crawdads Sing” jigsaw puzzle.
I saw the “Champagne Clutch” from Neiman Marcus and knew that McD needed one of those also. Enough room for a bottle of champagne, a credit card and an ID.
My favourite gift is this Pooh cushion. The other side has the “We’ll be friends for ever, right Pooh? Even longer,” classic quote.
We think we may stick with the stocking stuffer only Christmas gift tradition.
Spending the night at the Grand Hotel in downtown McKinney seemed like a better plan than getting in the way of Jose and the flooring crew. The Grand is such a lovely, old school hotel with a great location on the square. We had dinner at the Urban Bar and Grill – a new restaurant where Bayou Jack’s used to be (I loved that New Orleans style place.) Our meals were great – particularly Diana’s mussels.
We took advantage of some of the photo opportunities on our walk back from dinner. Diana always says we rarely get pictures of the two of us at busy times like this – so here you go D:
I saw storms and flight disruptions forecast for San Francisco on Wednesday, and so changed our flights to Tuesday. That way I could be sure to be ready to go to celebrate Will and Christine’s engagement. You hadn’t heard about that? Oh my goodness, what a production.
But before that, we celebrated McD’s birthday again with Adamo, Amy and crew. A creative cake indeed. It wouldn’t be a complete visit if Diana didn’t have kids hanging off her.
Now back to the engagement event – eleven of us were staged in a limo bus just down the street from the site of the proposal – in a “taxi” outside Christine’s house, where they first met. We were provided with a detailed set of instructions, including a dress code. As we exited the bus to offer congratulations, Christine said, “Did you guys all know about this? Oh, of course you did.” Pictures were taken in front of the old apartment, and then we all rode in the bus to the restaurant where Will and Christine were going to have a special celebration dinner.
It turned out the place Will had chosen for dinner was right next to the Tadich Grill, a favourite of mine when I would occasionally work in downtown San Francisco. This is the oldest restaurant in California, dating back to 1849. We decided to have dinner there rather than riding back in the bus and catching an Uber from the drop off point. This was a great decision – wonderful oysters Rockefeller, petrale sole and cioppino.
After dinner Diana wanted to check on the newly engaged couple. She asked the maitre d’ to take us to the couple with the white jackets.
We had our gift exchange with Will, Christine, Campbell and Ollie in Redwood City on Thursday night. That was followed by a delicious meal (outside so that Ollie could attend) at Terun.
The visit gave the girls a chance to admire Christine’s rock again.
I think I was a pretty good helper for Diana as we assembled Christmas dinner from the remainder of the seven fishes dinner from the previous evening. Marco and Giancarlo’s families joined us and we had a very nice time.
We certainly got plenty of celebrating and time with family in this week.
I did find enough time to finish up “I Dream He Talks to Me” by Allison Moorer. This is about her experiences raising a non-verbal autistic son, John Henry. The book certainly brings perspective to the challenges of raising our kids.
“I suspect he hears music all around him because he stops what he’s doing and he listens. My son has taught me countless lessons, but the biggest one may be that there is music in everything. I don’t know what role it will ultimately play in his life, whether he will pursue it professionally or if he will just enjoy it. I only know that music might very well be his language in some way. What he cannot say, he might one day sing too.”
A beautifully written book about treasuring all the small moments in life.
I love this song by The Delines, a band from Portland who describe themselves as retro-country:
And here’s one from the Scottish band The Blue Nile. Their music is always so well produced:
Stay safe (it’s getting crazy out there again) and kind.
The Atlas came back from getting wheels “powder coated” on Thursday. Diana is quite happy with the way the all black rims now look.
I got a haircut on Friday and decided to have a snack at the neighboring Lion and Crown afterwards. Scotch Eggs! This place had all the classic pub food favourites and I’ll have to plan another stop in.
My next book, “Mayflies” by Andrew O’Hagan, is a Christmas present from Mum that I couldn’t resist sampling, and then couldn’t resist finishing. It’s in two parts – a group of mates from the Glasgow area attending a music festival in Manchester in 1986 as teenagers, is part one, and part two is the same group in their 50s in recent years. Part one got a bit repetitive after a while – kids being silly at a music festival, but part two was excellent.
My third book was “Lucky” by Marissa Stapley. This is a quick and fun read that I finished in two sittings this weekend. I think Diana will figure out the puzzle quicker than I did.
Will, Christine, Campbell and Ollie arrived at the same time as we did, for their first Gypsy Hill Thanksgiving experience. Christine had to deal with a hungry Clorinda as she assembled this delicious appetizer. Grammie didn’t want to wait for the dill sauce and sprig and was happy to help herself to the cucumber and lox bases.
The girls (Diana, Alicia, and Caroline) spent a chunk of Friday putting up Clorinda’s Christmas tree and decorations. Clorinda was quite happy to sit and read “The Lincoln Highway” that I had shared with her, while all the activity took place around her. It wasn’t until Saturday morning that she really took time to investigate and enjoy all the decorations.
I needed to have a splint made to straighten my fingers out at night when sleeping. Leaving town the next day, I got an appointment for just after lunch. I stumbled on Mexican Cactus for a delicious taco lunch – great sauces. A nice new addition to the taco rotation. The splint appointment was painless and the lady also gave me a series of exercises to do every hour – I couldn’t say that I’ve been religious about doing them every single hour, but not too bad.
Last week I met some colleagues in downtown Dallas for dinner. We went to a place called CBD Provisions, where the signature dish is pig’s head carnitas. And yes, it comes served as a complete pig’s head – a bit strange but very tasty. Traffic was awful on the drive down, taking more than 90 minutes (typically 40) and so I maybe wasn’t in the mood to fully enjoy such a different appetizer.
A few months ago, on a whim, we bought tickets to see Bryan Adams in Las Vegas. The show was last Friday and we flew to Vegas on our way out to San Francisco. Our room at the Encore by Wynn was very comfy and modern (Alexa was available to close the curtains and turn on the lights). The show was at the Encore theater and so we just needed to ride the elevator down to attend the show – much easier than our typical drives to and from the Kessler for concerts.
Diana made us reservations at La Cave for pre-concert dinner. What a great find this was – tapas style small plates and very creative. The small plates weren’t really that small and we really enjoyed the meal in a lovely setting. Diana liked her “Fizzies flight” – more fun than just one glass.
We had a lazy start on Saturday with workouts in the fancy gym, lunch at the poolside restaurant, and then reading books by the lovely pool. BP kept watch from the room.
and weaving through the herds of people. When we finally arrived at Bardot we were seated inside next to a very loud table of guys. The entire place was soooo loud. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand it and so we moved out to the front patio – much better.
Monday was a busy work day for both of us, but things started to slow down on Tuesday and we were able to get out for a walk by the Pacifica beaches and to enjoy a coffee and a quiche at Soul Grind.
We went for a walk on the hill on Wednesday morning and ran into the whole crew coming down. It takes a while to make progress with Frankie collecting rocks, Luciano melting down when he falls off his skateboard, and Massimo moving along on crutches. Here are some short videos that capture the scene.
I finished a couple of books over the last weeks. First was “Oh, William!” by Elizabeth Strout. Similar in style to the wonderful “Olive Kitteridge”, this follows the life of Lucy Barton and her ex-husband William. I didn’t enjoy this as much as “Olive” but it was still a very good read. This is the third book in a trilogy and I might have enjoyed it more had I read the first two books more recently.
My second book was “The Lincoln Highway” by Amor Towles. I loved “A Gentleman in Moscow” and was excited to read his new book. I thoroughly enjoyed the tale – quite different than “A Gentleman”, with much more action and a faster paced story. At the same time, there was plenty of detail from 1954 (the book takes place over 10 days) to settle in and enjoy. Here’s what Amazon had to say about it:
The new VW Atlas performed very well on the drive – very comfy and smooth and with all the modern electronics that Penelope is lacking. We met the Ogans for tacos at Nixta before checking into the hotel. This is a place that I had been hoping to try for a while, and it was excellent. Very creative and tasty tacos and tostadas. It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed the garden patio setting very much. I had a beet tartare tostada that had some kind of whipped avocado base – highly recommended.
We loved everything about the concert. Three terrific artists/band were inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. We had excellent seats and plenty of room. I’m going to share the pictures in order with the setlist from the evening.
The Ogans flew back to New Orleans on Friday morning, and so we had the day to ourselves. We started out with a good long run along the river – that we seriously payed for over the next few days – not sure why our legs hurt so much. I made a lunch reservation at June’s and teased D by asking her where she would like to pick for lunch – she ultimately got to June’s and wondered if we could get a reservation 🙂 It was another lovely afternoon and we were able to sit out on the patio. What did Diana have for lunch? Yes – the trifecta of steak tartare was completed. I enjoyed some salt cod croquettes and delicious curried escargot.
It was time to move again. We walked about a mile and a half over to South Lamar and had a coffee on the wonderful Opa! patio. One of the places we really miss for Sunday mornings.
After Tiki, I gave D the option of TG BAD (two guitars, bass, and drums) at the Saxon pub or an earlier than planned dinner at the Odd Duck. She decided the Odd Duck couldn’t wait. Wise move.
I thoroughly enjoyed the overall meal and experience. The shrimp empanada appetizer (served in a burlap sack) was a great start. My dry aged chorizo steak was a wonderful way to continue. I’ve never had such a large table side menu before. That’s Norma (my LATAM CIO) and Francisco (LATAM COO) in the picture.
I took Finn for sushi after I picked him up from work on Thursday. He loved the place I chose. The salsa dancer (pictured here) was a great dish, and we picked out a couple of others that were equally delicious. McD was surprised that I wouldn’t go for sushi with her but took Finn. Can’t win!
Ollie made a trip down to San Jose on Saturday and accompanied Will on the patio of Rosie’s Irish Pub while he enjoyed a shepherd’s pie. I’ve had that there before and it’s delicious.
I was texting my friend Tom in New York on Sunday to see what was new. Was not expecting him to reply that he had triplet grand-children. The guy in the middle, Michael, was only 1 lb. at birth and spent 4 months in the NICU- I’m sure he’ll catch up quickly.
I really enjoyed S. A. Cosby’s “Razorblade Tears.” Even better than his last, “Blacktop Wasteland”, with more complex and relatable characters and more vivid action. Not for the feint of heart, but really well done. Here’s the Amazon review:
I’m about 2/3rds of the way through “Away with the Penguins” by Hazel Prior. This was a book that Heather gave Dad for his birthday, and I thought it looked really interesting. It was described as being similar to “Eleanor Oliphant is Just Fine”, a book that Diana and I loved last year.
Denny and Anne celebrated their 27th wedding anniversary last Thursday, and Anne chose this picture to commemorate the occasion. It was taken on a trip we took with them to Nashville in December 2017. Classic Denny and Anne.
We hung out for a while on the lovely porch and then called it a night. Coffee the next morning was challenging – the high-tech, automated house and equipment were almost too much for us. Diana finally rebooted the fancy coffee maker and we were in business.
This was one of the after dinner games we enjoyed. I laughed because Finn is someone that absolutely knows the answer to that question. Another game was a combination of Pictionary and the Telephone Game called Telestrations – highly recommended. That was a big hit with the group.
unday morning. He walked down to the French patisserie with us, we enjoyed breakfast (Croque Madame for me), and brought back a selection of pastries and quiches for the gang. I couldn’t resist taking a picture of this T-Rex enjoying a Trump snack in a yard we passed.
I had mentioned to Mum and Dad that I was hoping they would have a stuffed quail on the new Autumn menu – and wouldn’t you know it, they had a delicious dish on there. The overall new menu was filled with things that are right up our alleys. Mussels, octopus, pork belly – all great. Uber back home was a bit more work, but not to huge a hassle.
We hung out at the hotel for dinner and Sunday night football watching. These are my traveling companions Blair and Damon exchanging views on the game.
I read “Lake Success” by Gary Shteyngart in a couple of days early this week. It’s a quick and easy read with a constant oscillation from quirky humour to truly sad situations. The challenge is that the main characters really do come across too much like caricatures, and the main plot of Barry Cohen, uber rich hedge fund dude, abandoning everything to cross the country on a Greyhound bus, just a bit too far fetched. The book made all the big top 10 lists when published in 2018, and I think part of that was driven by the back drop of the Trump election and how that features prominently in this tale. I did learn a lot about very expensive watches – Barry’s passion. Here’s the Amazon review:
My second book was “What’s Mine and Ours” by Naima Coster. It’s been a week or so since I read this book, and I couldn’t remember the plot or characters without some internet research – probably tells you this was not very exciting or memorable to me. I did enjoy the read but it certainly didn’t have too much to embed itself in my memory. Here’s the summary review:
Bob Schneider played an excellent show at the Kessler on Friday night. He performed both an early and a late show, and so we were home at a reasonable hour after a concert in Oak Cliff for a change. This was a good thing as my Saturday started at 7am with a Finn drop-off.
We’ve been enjoying watching the US Open tennis, and particularly the new youngsters that have been doing so well. There is clearly a new generation taking control of women’s tennis, with the amazing feat by Emma Raducanu of winning the final without dropping a set the entire tournament. She was ranked 150th going in.
I’ve read a couple of book since my last posting. “A Spool of Blue Thread” by Anne Tyler is described this way in a review:
My other read was “The Eternal Audience of One” by Remy Ngamije, a writer from Namibia. The story follows Seraphin as he escapes Rwanda, then Namibia, and tries to make a life in Cape Town. Here’s a summary from a review:
The airport was eerily quiet – we were the only folks at all in terminal D security – very unusual. Even Heathrow was relatively quiet and a pretty painless experience. We’re always impressed with the service on the 1 hour flight from London to Glasgow – drinks, full meal, coffee or tea, with no fuss or rush. If only all flights were like those ones. Diana captured the view from the window as we came in to land in Glasgow. That’s the river Clyde in the second picture – where so many famous ships were built in years past.
Monday began with a run around Stewarton – I think we covered most of the highlights including Main Street, Avenue Square and a couple of different sections of park. In the evening we walked around the neighborhood – checking out some of the new developments since we last visited, and admiring the sunset behind Ravenscraig castle.
On Tuesday we tried out a new running destination – Elspeth had mentioned the new Lainshaw Woods trail along the Annick River was very nice. This was indeed a great running spot with nice views and a good path. Quite different than what the area was like when I grew up – quite seedy indeed. The trail follows the river for several miles and is really well done. Some calves had escaped their field and were enjoying the river also.
After that morning exercise we drove down to Culzean castle with a stop in Dunure on the way. Our attempt to show Diana the Electric Brae – an optical illusion where the road appears to be sloping in one direction but is really going in the other – was foiled by a ball that had seen much better days (maybe 40 years ago). Dunure is a very picturesque fishing village.
We had to wait on a reservation at Nardini’s and so had a nice wander along the front. This sign about the Vanduara house being used by Lord Mountbatten during World War II to plot the Normandy invasions was very interesting.
We skipped our run on Saturday and instead drove into Glasgow to get our U.S. reentry COVID tests. This was a very efficient and well organized process and we just beat Elspeth and David back to Stewarton. Heather and Michael arrived later in the afternoon and we gave Dad his presents and cake. It was such a shame that Struan and Emily could join us – both getting over the virus. The living room had been “Bramble proofed” on Friday night, and we were able to measure and see that Diana was in fact a bit taller than Geoffrey the giraffe.
Dinner was excellent – I enjoyed chicken liver pate and sole meuniere. Diana said that the mussels she had were perhaps the best she’s tasted. Here are some more pictures from the 85th celebration:
Elspeth, David and Bramble spent the night in a local hotel, and joined us again for most of the day on Sunday. We got to take Bramble for a run through Lainshaw Woods – risking off the leash as we were assured she was very good that way. She was mostly fine with only a minor incident when she wanted to join right in with another very similar dog who was waiting for her owner to throw a tennis ball. “But why can’t I play too?” Poor bramble was quite tired out by the time McD had her running up the final set of stairs.
Diana tried out the old school clothes drying technique with her running suit. Not something you see much of around Texas cities.
pleasant evening catching up with everyone. Saturday began with a run and walk for D and me, while most of the group went hiking by the coast. The roads were quite hilly and narrow – not completely ideal for running – but a good test for us. The first test was how to get out of the coded gate from the inside without the weight of a car on the sensor pad. We managed to squeeze through and later learned of a code box hidden on a fence post. The driveway is very long.
Saturday afternoon was spent relaxing by the pool, followed by a lovely dinner at “Pamplemousse” – a highly recommended local restaurant in Solana Beach. I really enjoyed my Duo of Game – a Venison Chop Au Poivre and Lemon Thyme Marinated Quail. This was the waiter’s number one recommendation and I’m glad I followed his lead.
Finn started work earlier in the week in the produce department at Market Street (a high end grocery store 2 miles from our home). He’s enjoying it and seems to be doing well in the eyes of his managers.
I read “Clever Girl” by Tessa Hadley over the last week or so. Having really enjoyed a short story from Hadley in the New Yorker, I thought I would give this a try.